SYRACUSE — The 2019 DN North American Championship iceboat regatta started off at 11 a.m. today, Thursday, Feb. 21. Competitors were able to launch their ice boats from one of three locations: Oakwood Resort, Wawasee Yacht Club or Wawasee Area Conservancy Foundation.The iceboat racing championship began with mini qualifier races in each of the bronze, silver and gold fleets. The top winners in the bronze and silver fleets in the mini qualifiers are allowed to move up one fleet and compete in the next best fleet, either silver or gold.During the mini qualifier, each iceboat makes three laps around buoys placed out on the ice. Once all three fleets have completed the qualifier races, then the championship race begins. There were 38 entries in the bronze fleet, 27 entries in the silver fleet and 30 entries in the gold fleet.Competitors came from not only North America, but across the world including the United States, Canada, Poland, Germany, Russia, Hungary, Austria, Sweden and Switzerland.More information and provisional race results can be found at www.idniyra.org/2019gc/.